Drabble Dabble
by Alleybat
Summary: I'm gonna use this to post the drabbles I come up with. It may include DickBabs, Dick and Wally Bromance, Spitfire, really anyone on the team.
1. Ring Shopping DickBabs

The gems were only displays, but they sparkled before them in the incandescent light of the store. Dick promised Babs whichever ring she wanted, money was no object. The sales clerk was quick to bring out all the most expensive pieces he could find. Since Dick was well known as the adopted son of Bruce Wayne, the clerk seemed to expect him to spend as much money as possible. The only thing that mattered to Dick, however, was what Babs wanted. So he put up with the clerks insistence on checking in the back for more of the stores best rings.

"You know..." Barbara said, walking towards some displays the clerk whisked her away from for more, "appropriate" choices. "I don't want something huge and gaudy... I was hoping for something simple... traditional."

"The guy is just doing his job I guess..." Dick said following her. "Although, you'd think he'd listen more to what you want... rather than throwing all the most expensive rings in the store at you..."

"He knows you can afford it." She said peering into one of the displays as the clerk returned.

"I think you may like..." he started, noticing them looking into the display. "Ms. Gordon?"

"Can I see this one better?" She asked pointing at a small ring in the display.

The clerk walked over to see what she was pointing at.

"Oh, Miss Gordon... that is a lovely ring really... But don't you think you deserve-"

Dick shot him a look. This guy was way too concerned with what Dick could spend, and not what Babs wanted. The clerk noticed his glare and opened the case to pull out the ring for Babs. She turned it in her fingers, threw Dick a knowing grin, and slid it on her left ring finger. It barely fit past her knuckle.

"I think I'll need a bigger size." She laughed. "But, it's perfect... I want this one."


	2. Hope DickBabs

"Gone?"

There was no way… This was Dick…. Nightwing… He was the best fighter in the group. No matter how much she trained, how hard she tried, she could never beat him… But there it was, on the security footage for the cave. Him getting his ass handed to him by some woman in orange…. then she and some cohorts in Black Manta gear just drag him off. And he's gone.

Barbara tried not to let it show just how devastated she was. They kept replaying the footage, trying to figure out who the mysterious woman was, and how she related to Black Manta. Tim, Robin, was doing much better than her; formulating plans with the team for investigating Nightwing's kidnapping… but she could see he was holding back his own tears, Dick was, after all, like a big brother to him. But for Barbara… he was so much more…. and she hadn't even realized it until now.

They were best friends since the day they met. She remembered seeing him walk into the classroom and being introduced by the headmaster, just before she was appointed to show him around the school. She knew his story, better than anyone else in class since her Dad was the head of the homicide investigation, and she was determined to help him. She always fancied herself his big sister… but now, seeing him being dragged off over and over again on the holographic screens, she realized she loved him more than she had ever loved anyone in her life. She felt pains of regret that she hadn't realized it before now. Now that is was too late.

Tim pulled himself away from the rest of the team, who were starting to discuss who the new leader would be, and took Barbara away from the prying ears and eyes of everyone else.

"Barbara…" He started, and Babs couldn't take it. She hugged him as tight as she could and felt tears flow out of her eyes.

"Tim…." She choked between sobs. "What's going to happen to him? As far as we know… they'll torture him for information before tying him up at the bottom of the ocean somewhere."

Tim started to cry too and hugged her back.

"Barbara… Maybe… maybe he'll be okay?" Tim said after a minute. "Maybe, they want him kept alive as a hostage and we'll be able to save him."

"I don't know, Tim" Babs said pulling away to look at him. "What are we supposed to do?"

"All we can do, Barbara…" Tim said solemnly "We will continue the mission to save the world, search for any sign of him… and hope…."


	3. Before the Performance Team

"Do we really have to wear these stupid costumes?"

Conner had been voicing his complaints about the circus outfits for a while now.

"We need to look uniform, like we really are a traveling troupe... No one is going to believe us if we don't have a special name and costume." Dick said answering him. He didn't overly mind the white and pink costumes, but then again, he'd worn some strange things in his years in the very circus they were going undercover in. He had snuck his way into the costume car on the Haley's Circus train and taken some old looking costumes that he was sure had never been used. Conner wasn't very happy about their appearance, Artemis and Roy were pretty indifferent, and M'gann seemed pretty excited about the whole thing.

"What do you guys think?" M'gann said behind Dick. The girls had gone to the back of the bioship to change while the boys stayed in front.

"You changed your look." Conner said looking at M'gann in surprise.

"Do you like it?" she asked bashfully. "I didn't really have to change, since I can just shape shift so I wandered around the circus in camouflage to get a feel of the place... and I saw this old poster of a family of acrobats and I decided to change my appearance to reflect one of them."

Dick turned to look at her and felt his heart sink. She looked exactly like his mom.


	4. Naked Barbara and slight DickBabs

"Good work Alpha squad."

Dick's words echoed in Barbara's head.

"Yeah, good job Alpha squad, good job almost getting yourself captured, Barbara." She mumbled to herself as she entered her room at the cave. It was late and she really didn't feel like trekking all the way back home, her dad was working until morning anyway, he wouldn't miss her. She slammed the door behind her and sighed pulling off her cowl. Her hair clung to her face from the static. Scowling, she grabbed a ponytail off her dresser and pulled it all into a bun. _"Maybe it's about time to get it cut."_ She thought, it was getting too long and often got in her way during combat. She sighed, there was no time in her day to visit a hair salon, and even Dick's hair was starting to get unruly. The two of them were too busy to do anything other than be college students or crime fighters. Even a simple haircut was too time consuming. She brushed her schedule out of her mind and started undoing the snaps on her uniform.

This was like a ritual for her, shedding the layers of Kevlar was like shedding away all of her burdens. Without the bat on her chest she no longer had to be a strong, unafraid role model to the younger members of the team. Standing in the solitude of her room, she could let herself feel everything she was holding back through the day. She unsnapped her bra and caught her reflection in the mirror. There were two large purple bruises on her chest where Karen shot her to wake her up. Her bra fell to the floor as she inspected them. They were tender to the touch and about as big as her fist. They stood as a reminder of what happened.

She didn't tell anyone but looking at the little pod she was held in scared the hell out of her. What would have happened if Karen hadn't found her? What were they going to do with the hostages, with her? How close was she to being taken? Tears welled in her eyes. As Batgirl, she wasn't allowed to be scared, she had to put on a brave face for everyone. But, here, in the solitude of her room, she cried. She cried for her, for the hostages, but mostly, she cried because she was so thankful to be here. She was so thankful to Karen for finding her, and she didn't mind the bruises, so long as she was still here, and still alive.

There was a knock on her door and before she could answer it, Dick entered.

"Babs, I wanted to…" He started, but the sight of her tears cut him off. "Babs are you okay?!"

"I'm fine…" she said wiping her tears and hugging herself. Her nakedness didn't seem to be at the forefront of his mind as he rushed over to her and pulled her into a long hug. His arms were strong and she took great comfort in them. She could remember when they were kids and he'd hug her like this; like when her dad was shot on the job, he hugged her all night, letting her cry into his shoulder. Standing there in his arms made her cry more. She sobbed into his chest, bringing her arms around to hold onto him as tight as she could. He stayed with her all night. They talked, she cried some more, and he was always there to put his arms around her when she did.


End file.
